


put the fire out with gasoline

by penrosequartz



Category: Logan 2017, Marvel, X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: AU, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, it will be gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-11-23 17:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11407494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penrosequartz/pseuds/penrosequartz
Summary: For Calogan Week 2017!AU where Laura is sassy and older and there will be more of this. I will write another chapter with overflowing amounts of domestic Calogan.





	1. the scenery is so loud

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this for calogan week but i'm posting it early on here, it's not that good but i'm reasonably happy with it. mostly unedited (((it's trash)))

“What’s… updog?” Logan asked cautiously, and Laura squealed, bounding over to Charles.

“I told you I could get him to do it, I told you!” She laughed, and Charles did too, his eyes twinkling as he glanced at a confused Wolverine from across the apartment.

“Whatever, kid,” Logan smirked, before going into ‘dad-mode’, as Laura calls it. “You can look after her for a couple hours, Charles?”

“Daaaad, I don’t need looking after, I’m 15! I can-“ Laura’s complaints were suddenly interrupted.

“Fine – you and Charles can ‘hang out’ together. Don’t steal my best friend off me with your cool-kid vibes, Laura,” Logan rolled his eyes.

“Never say ‘cool-kid vibes’ again,” Laura groaned before looking at Charles, “Really though, you wanna chill with me?”

“Of course, it would be my pleasure!” Charles nodded, “What would you like to do tonight, young lady?”

“We could watch a movie?” Laura suggested after a moment.

“Great,” Logan huffed, grabbing his keys off the kitchen bench, “Don’t eat too much candy, you two.”

“And Charles?” He added as he swung open the door.

“Yes?” The old man raised an eyebrow.

“If you watch Shane again, I swear I’ll make you watch one of Laura’s old DVD’s,” Logan stepped out into the corridor, the door closing behind him. Past it, he could hear Laura’s comments that Charles might actually enjoy the plot of various Barbie movies, and that she’d be the one who’d suffer. It was true – while Professor X might feel entertained by the fairies and princesses, Laura would be haunted by her pink-obsessed phase that lasted up until she was nearly 14.

Logan paused as he glanced down at his buzzing phone. It was his boss.

“Hello?” he answered quickly.

 _“Where are you?”_ The voice on the end of the line crackled, _“We’ve got that company dinner thing tonight, all the higher-ups are going to be there! You have to bring your family, Logan, we talked about this at the meeting last week!”_

“Right,” Logan winced, “When was the meeting last week?”

_“Monda- you weren’t there, were you? Jesus Christ, just come to the office with whoever will smile for some cameras, and wear something nice, alright?”_

“Yeah, okay. I’m on my way, I’ll see you there,” Logan sighed.

_“No, I’m leaving, I have to get something from the other office. I’ll send someone out to help you find your way to the place, it’s just round the block… Caliban? Yeah, go out to the main office on the street and bring the scary guy with the beard back, yeah? Okay. You still there, Logan?”_

Logan rolled his eyes again. It was gonna be a long night. “Yeah, I’m still here.”

_“Caliban will meet you out the front of the office and take you here. He’s albino, no hair or anything, yellow shirt, tall motherfucker. British accent. Can’t miss him.”_

“John- ah, fuck,” Logan whispered. His boss had already hung up.

Logan headed back into the apartment.

“Change of plans, you’re all coming to work with me tonight,” Logan growled.

“But we didn’t get to-“ Laura began.

“Sorry, kid. Next time. Charles, you’re coming, you don’t have a choice,” Logan smirked.

“Always happy to help,” Charles deadpanned.

“Alright, come on. Laura, put something else on-“

“What? Why?”

“It’s cold and you gotta dress nice.”

“Ugh.”

 

* * *

 

“No, Laura, we’re using the lifts,” Logan pressed the down button as his daughter headed for the stairs.

“But I don’t-”

“How many times: Charles is in a _wheelchair,_ Laura, we’re not using the damn stairs.”

 

* * *

 

You really couldn’t miss Caliban.

Taller and thinner than Logan, but not a total string bean; almost translucent skin, with a few light purple bruises blossoming under it; long white eyelashes, but no hair; and wearing a yellow dress shirt. Damn. I mean. What?

Laura grabbed Charles’ wheelchair from the back of the car, and Logan scooped the old man out of the passenger seat. As soon as Charles was safely propped up in his chair, Logan extended his hand to shake –

Caliban was a mutant. It hit Logan very suddenly, and it seemed to confused Charles too. Laura seemed a little suspicious, but maybe she looked at everyone like that. Logan quickly withdrew his hand.

“Uh…” Logan began.

“Hello,” Caliban paused, “I- uh, I didn’t realise there was another mutant working here?”

That was a risky move.

“Interesting way of establishing whether I’m going to kill you or not,” Logan raised an eyebrow.

“Uh. Yes,” Caliban nodded, “So, anyway. Dinner?”

The way he said it, in his British accent and slightly nervous demeanour, was so endearingly awkward that all Logan could think to say was, “I thought you’d never ask.”

 

* * *

  

The walk to- well, wherever they were going, took longer than Logan expected. Whether that was due to distance or Charles and Laura stopping every 5 seconds to look in a shop window, he didn’t know.

Actually, he did know. It was the latter.

Fucking hell.

Charles seemed unnaturally comfortable with Caliban’s presence. Maybe Charles knew something Logan didn’t – that wasn’t new, though. There were many things Charles Xavier knew that nearly no one else in the world did.

He wondered what the old man saw in Caliban’s brain – whatever it had been, it was a compelling reason not to leave, or shout, or panic. That was good enough for him.

“So,” Logan tried to start up a conversation, “What do you do for this company, exactly?”

“Oh, I don’t- I, uhm, do some work for a different company, but we’re related somehow. Parent company of an uncle’s second-cousin, that sort of thing. My boss is coming tonight, that’s why I’m here,” Caliban kicked a stone on the ground.

“Not a fan of your boss, hey?” Logan smirked.

“Uh, no- I mean, yeah, sorry. Um. He’s fine,” Panic lit up Caliban’s features.

“It’s okay, I won’t tell,” Logan shook his head, smiling at the ground as he walked along. What was it about this guy? Caliban was nearly making him blush, Jesus. It was the way he looked at him, Logan thought. Caliban seemed like he was actually a nice guy. One of the few nice guys Logan had met in the past few years.

Suddenly, Logan realised that Caliban looked a little off. He was quickly typing something on his phone, but he was resolutely not looking at the screen.

“Look at this photo I took the other day. I quite like it. What do you think?”

Caliban handed the phone to him, still looking straight ahead.

**“DO NOT SAY ANYTHING THERE IS A CAM IN A CONTACT LENS IN MY LEFT EYE AND A COMM IN MY LEFT EAR FIVE SECONDS AFTER YOU HAND THE PHONE BACK TO ME I WILL GET THE LENS OUT AND CRUSH THE COMM BE READY TO RUN BACK TO YOUR CAR”**

Well, fuck. Logan didn’t know what was happening but he definitely didn’t like it.

“Hey, Laura, Charles, come look at this photo Caliban took. It’s really nice, don’t you think?” Logan handed the phone to Laura, who replied in a strained voice, “Wow, yeah. Really nice… lighting.” She handed the phone to Charles.

“I can hardly see it, make it bigger,” Charles scowled.

“Let me, you’ll probably do something bad to it,” Laura glared at Logan, quickly finding a way to enlarge the text.

“Oh, yes,” Charles nodded when Laura showed him the screen, “A very lovely photo.”

Logan handed the phone back to Caliban, who quickly tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans.

In a flurry of movement, Caliban dug a small grey communicator out of his ear, stood on it and squished it on the cement, and then somehow successfully removed the contact lens from his eye. Meanwhile, Logan grabbed Charles and Laura took his chair in her arms.

“I was going to carry that,” Caliban panted as they started running back towards the car.

“Sorry?” Laura shrugged.

 

* * *

 

“Wait a sec, you’re in my car. Where are we going? What’s even going on?” Logan frowned as Caliban jumped into the backseat, slamming the door.

“YES, I’M IN YOUR BLOODY CAR!” Caliban yelled as four men dressed in black and holding firearms, emerged from an alleyway. More and more appeared, flooding the street as Logan turned the key.

“DRIVE, YOU CANADIAN POT PLANT!” Caliban shouted frantically.

“Pot plant?” Logan frowned as a bullet ripped into the side of the car.

“DRIVE!” Came the response from the rest of the people in the vehicle.

 

* * *

 

“I knew you’d come around,” Charles smiled at Caliban later when they checked into a greasy roadside motel, “I could feel it.”

“You _knew?”_ Logan exclaimed angrily, “You knew that whole time and you didn’t say anything?”

“I couldn’t have said anything, they would have heard me!” Charles defended.

“Jesus Christ… you work for Transigen?” Logan rounded on Caliban, who was sitting facing the wall, his back to Logan. Another risky move.

“Worked,” Caliban sighed, “I expect I’ve been taken off the payroll.”

“How do we know that you’re not still working for them?” Logan demanded.

“I don’t know,” Caliban didn’t move.

“Oh, are we supposed to take you at face value? Forgive me, but that’s a little hard,” Logan growled, “Do you know what they did to Laura? To other little kids? They’re a bunch of killers, Caliban. Is that even your real name? And how did you know I was Canadian? Why-“

“They gave me a file,” Caliban paused, “They said they were going to lure you there, I asked what was going to happen to you. They said they’d cross that bridge when they came to it.”

There was silence.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Caliban spun to face Logan, “But when I saw a young girl and an old man in a wheelchair, and I heard them whooping around in my comm, I realised I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m not stupid, they would have killed all of you. You should be thanking me that I didn’t walk you all to your deaths.”

 

* * *

 

“I’m-“ Logan swallowed his pride, “I’m sorry for what I said. I know Transigen is bad, I know how hard- how much courage it would take, to defect, or whatever.”

Caliban sighed heavily.

“You don’t have to apologise. They’re monsters. I should have left them years ago.”

“Probably. But, we all make mistakes. Right?” Logan couldn’t believe he was trying to comfort this guy.

“I suppose,” Caliban nodded, “My mistakes have been pretty bad.”

“Your mistakes have been bad? Oh, I have some stories to tell you,” Logan chuckled.

“Please,” Caliban smiled, “I’ve got the rest of the night.”

“That’s not long,” Logan glanced at his watch, “An hour and a bit.”

“Shit, really? I- I can’t go out in the sun,” Caliban squinted at the horizon, noting that it was indeed bleeding grey into the inky black.

“Bad sunburn?” Logan enquired as Caliban slid open the door to their room, with Charles and Laura still asleep.

“You have no idea,” Caliban whispered back.

Even though there was almost no light outside, Caliban stood out like a pale ghost against the brick and bad wallpaper. The man in question sat down on the only free single bed (Charles was in the other, with Laura sleeping on the couch).

“There’s no point sleeping now, I imagine,” Caliban breathed, “I don’t know how I’m going to make it out of here without burning alive.”

“I get you some stuff, to cover up your skin,” Logan replied tiredly, “You can come with us. There’s this place, in the desert, over the border. We’ll be safe there for a while.”

“You want me to come with you?” Caliban asked cautiously.

The way he said it made it feel oddly personal, like Logan was proposing they elope in the middle of the night. While that didn’t sound too bad, Logan had Laura and Charles to take care of. He couldn’t afford to make Caliban another of his weak spots.

“With us,” Logan explained, “You could help look after Charles. Today he’s been really good, but sometimes he’s… not so great. I’d pay you, I’d find a new job. It could be fine.”

“They’ll find us. They’ll kill us,” Caliban said simply.

“Everyone dies eventually,” Logan said sadly, casting his eyes over to Charles.


	2. catching lightning in your nightgown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the ending, but not the END, if you get my drift. short.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope it's an okay ending.

“Laura, eat your greens,” Caliban scolded.

“They're gross though,” Laura frowned at her plate.

“Your father put a lot of effort into this meal-” Caliban took a bite of the broccoli that had been sitting on his plate, “Oh, okay. Never mind. Logan, what the _actual fuck_ did you put on this?”

“It's got some kind of sauce thing on it, I dunno,” Logan speared the vegetable with his fork, reminding himself of his own claws, then sniffed at it.

“Ugh. Sorry,” Logan put it back on his plate, “I did try, I swear.”

“It’s okay, let's just… let me cook from now on,” Caliban sighed.

“Agreed,” Laura glanced distastefully at her plate before standing up and stepping towards her room.

“Excuse me, Laura,?” Logan smirked, raising an eyebrow, “I cooked, you've gotta help Caliban clean up.”

“That was hardly _edible,”_ Laura groaned, making her way to the sink anyway.

Logan went to check on Charles.

* * *

 

The old man was degrading. Logan had been saving up money, he was going to try and buy a boat for them all. Truthfully, he didn’t know if Caliban could or even would come. But he was going to try.

And when Charles finally passed, Logan would wait it out until he couldn’t stand the pain any longer. He’d make Caliban swear to protect Laura. He leave everything he owned to his daughter (except the useless shit, y’know?). And then he’d get them to drop him somewhere with a gun and the bullet he’d been carrying around for years, just in case.

And then he’d be gone.

Bliss.

Laura would be fine, he knew she would be. Caliban would be fine. They’d be fine.

They’d be-

“Hello? Logan?” Charles waved his arm around.

“Sorry, what?” Logan shook his head.

“Logan, I can hear Laura,” Charles whispered.

Logan listened quietly, but all he could hear were the gentle breaths of the old man.

“I don’t hear anything,” Logan shrugged.

“No, you don’t understand, I can _hear_ her. In my head, Logan-”

“No, you can’t. Take these,” Logan growled.

“I don’t know why I have to have these stupid things,” Charles scowled, putting two in his mouth and taking a swig of the glass of water that Logan handed him.

“They’re to help stop the attacks, Charles. We don’t want that to happen again,” Logan sighed, “I made dinner, but it’s pretty bad. I’ll make you a sandwich or something.”

“I’m not hungry,” Charles snapped.

“Yeah, okay. Don’t wake anyone up in the middle of the night just because you want pizza.”

* * *

 

“Hey,” Caliban smiled, glancing at Logan from the couch.

“Hello,” Logan approached him, looking down at the book Caliban was holding, “What are you reading?”

“Pride and Prejudice,” Caliban turned the page.

“Jesus,” Logan huffed.

“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad!” Caliban laughed, “It’s got a hot guy in it.”

Logan sat himself down next to the pale man, “Gimme.”

Caliban carefully slid his bookmark in, marking his page, and handed the paperback to Logan, who opened it up to the beginning.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,” Logan began in a bad British accent, before scoffing, “Nope, I’m done.”

“Fair enough,” Caliban took his book back, setting it down on the armrest. He laid his head on Logan’s shoulder, “How’s Charles.”

“I don’t know anymore. One minute he’s fine, the next he’s raving. He says he can hear, Laura, in his head. If that’s true, he could have another attack,” Logan whispered.

“Did you give him his meds?” Caliban asked anxiously.

“Yeah,” Logan sighed, “Hopefully they’ll be enough.”

There was a pause.

“Bed?” Logan asked tiredly.

“I don’t wanna get up,” Caliban sighed.

“Okay,” Logan sighed, lying back and letting Caliban rest on him. Looks like they were sleeping on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave kudos/a comment if you liked it!

**Author's Note:**

> so if you liked that poke me with a stick in the comments and i'll write some more! love, PRQ


End file.
